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THE  LIBRARY 

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THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


AMERICA  DURING  AND 
AFTER  THE  WAR 


BY  SENOR  DON  IGN AGIO- 

Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary)  from  Bolivia 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 
1919 


America  During  and  After  the  War 

BY  IGNACIO  CALDERON 

We  all  know  that  the  tempest  is  past,  and  yet 
the  world  cannot  realize  the  appalling  tragedy  that 
during  more  than  four  years  drenched  the  earth  with 
blood,  made  millions  of  people  homeless  and  starving 
wanderers,  violated  women's  purity  and  clouded  the 
children's  sunshine,  filling  their  young  lives  with 
sorrow. 

Many  centuries  of  constant  struggle  for  freedom 
have  been  necessary  to  redeem  mankind  from  the 
thraldom  of  autocratic  supremacy.  The  world  can- 
not be  turned  back  to  the  times  in  which  the  sword 
and  the  whims  of  one  man  were  the  law. 

When  it  was  hoped  that  the  wonderful  inventions 
that  brought  all  nations  closer  together  had  assured 
peace  and  nobody  suspected  the  impending  calamity; 
the  criminal  ambition  of  the  German  junkers  and  their 
Kaiser  opened  suddenly  the  flood  gates  of  war.  The 
teachings  of  the  herr  professors,  the  preachers  and 
writers  have  misled  the  German  people  into  the  con- 
ceit that  it  was  their  mission  to  dominate  the  world: 
deutchland  uber  alles. 

Not  since  Satan's  pride  brought  upon  himself  eternal 
damnation  was  greater  misery  inflicted  in  the  world. 
The  lords  of  might  have  no  conception  of  the  transcend- 
ent power  of  justice  and  could  not  perceive  how  much 
stronger  than  force  is  the  spirit  of  freedom  in  a  contest 
for  right.  From  the  moment  that  treaties  were  turned 
into  scraps  of  paper  and  all  moral  laws  made  subser- 
vient to  the  necessities  of  war,  Germany  lost  it  morally. 

(i) 


2  IGNACIO  CALDERON 

With  proud  confidence  in  the  great  military  machine 
prepared  and  perfected  by  almost  half  a  century  of 
constant  endeavor,  the  enemies  of  right  started  for 
the  conquest  of  the  world,  sure  of  an  easy  victory. 

The  unexpected  and  heroic  resistance  of  Belgium, 
that  refused  to  become  an  accomplice  to  the  criminal 
enterprise  and  defended  her  honor  with  glory,  thwarted 
all  the  plans  of  easy  victory.  The  enraged  savage 
wreaked  the  most  cruel  vengeance  on  the  unhappy 
nation.  Mankind  saw  with  horror  the  burning  of 
towns,  the  wholesale  murder  of  defenseless  people,  the 
revolting  maltreatment  of  women  and  the  torturing 
of  little  children  in  the  midst  of  a  carnival  of  incredible 
iniquity,  the  memory  of  which  will  remain  as  one  of 
the  most  fearful  visitations  on  a  country  defending  its 
existence. 

During  the  whole  war  Germany  made  itself  infamous 
by  the  unscrupulous  use  of  forbidden  methods,  such 
as  poison  gas,  the  sinking  of  passenger  ships  and  other 
abominable  practices.  History  will  record  them  as 
the  vilest  degradation  of  human  nature. 

In  the  African  jungles  are  found  certain  trees  whose 
shadow  is  death  for  the  unwary  traveler  resting  under 
them.  The  influence  of  military  autocracy  has  in 
like  manner  killed  in  the  German  hearts  every  senti- 
ment of  right,  justice  or  mercy,  and  left  nothing  but 
hatred  and  degradation.  The  loftiest  ideals  of  love 
and  beauty,  the  noble  impulses  that  open  our  hearts 
to  understand  and  commune  with  all  the  harmonies 
of  nature  are  the  privilege  of  free  nations  such  as  the 
ancient  Greek  and  Roman  republics,  who  lived  in  the 
spirit  of  freedom  and  lofty  ideals.  Autocracy  and 
force  never  produced  anything  but  slavery  and  abjection. 

The  peoples  of  the  American  republics  registered  an 
unanimous  protest  against  the  German  kind  of  war- 


AMERICA  DURING  AND  AFTER  THE  WAR  3 

fare,  and  if  some  of  the  governments  omitted  the 
official  sanction  to  the  public  sentiment  it  was  never- 
theless very  clearly  expressed. 

A  nation  like  the  United  States,  founded,  grown 
and  wholly  dedicated  to  liberty  and  right  from  the 
earliest  days  of  its  existence,  could  not  remain  long 
passive  when,  after  repeated  warnings  against  the 
growing  disregard  of  the  fundamental  right  of  free 
use  of  the  seas,  Germany  inaugurated  the  unrestricted 
sinking  of  ships  and  committed  wholesale  murder  and 
devastation.  In  the  name  of  justice  and  in  vindica- 
tion of  its  national  honor,  the  United  States  accepted 
the  challenge  and  took  its  place  alongside  of  the 
defenders  of  freedom. 

President  Wilson,  in  his  admirable  message  to 
Congress  asking  the  declaration  of  war,  made  it 
plain  that  on  entering  in  it,  the  United  States  had  no 
special  interest,  aimed  at  no  advantage  or  material 
gain,  but  was  going  to  fight  together  with  glorious 
France,  free  England  and  noble  Italy,  for  the  sacred 
principles  of  right  and  justice,  to  make  the  world,  as 
he  expressed  it,  safe  for  democracy. 

Congress  by  practically  unanimous  vote  declared 
war,  and  the  whole  nation  by  a  great  spontaneous  im- 
pulse answered  with  determination  the  call  of  duty 
and  sacrifice.  It  was  a  unique  attitude  and  an  in- 
spiring outburst  of  love  of  right  and  freedom. 

How  noble  the  sentiments  that  awakened  this 
Nation  to  put  all  its  enormous  financial  and  indus- 
trial power  into  action!  Billions  upon  billions  of 
money  were  appropriated,  every  factory  offered  to 
take  the  work  of  war  preparation,  and  millions  of 
citizens  eagerly  offered  themselves  to  enlist  in  the 
great  army  of  democracy,  while  thousands  and  thous- 
ands of  devoted  and  heroic  women  went  as  nurses 


4  IGNACIO  CALDBRON 

to  take  care  of  the  wounded  and  soften  their  pain 
with  sweet  and  loving  tenderness.  It  is  no  wonder 
the  the  world  acclaimed  President  Wilson  as  the  true 
interpreter  of  the  aspirations  of  the  oppressed,  and  the 
United  States  as  the  new  crusader  for  right  and 
justice.  No  nation  deserves  greater  honor  and  merits 
more  respect.  The  United  States  has  glorified  de- 
mocracy by  its  decisive  concourse  in  the  war  which 
brought  the  final  defeat  and  humiliation  to  the  barbaric 
invaders. 

The  war  that  has  so  happily  ended  leaves  behind 
unparalleled  distress  and  sorrow.  Who  can  appre- 
ciate the  desolation  of  lost  homes,  and  broken  hearts; 
the  grievous  memories  of  insults  and  hardships  en- 
dured? God  grant  that  the  blood  so  heroically  and 
generously  spilled,  and  the  bitter  tears  so  abundantly 
shed,  be  compensated  by  the  growth  of  the  spirit  of 
brotherhood,  love,  justice  and  peace  amongst  nations 
and  individuals,  bound  together  in  one  common 
endeavor  for  progress  and  happiness. 

One  of  the  most  important  peace  proposals  is  the 
formation  of  a  "  League  of  Nations."  A  general  and 
universally  accepted  and  binding  agreement  on  prin- 
ciples of  acknowledged  importance  would  no  doubt 
be  a  very  strong  element  to  preserve  peace.  The 
respect  of  the  independence  and  sovereignty  of  nations, 
compulsory  arbitration  of  all  international  questions, 
the  formation  of  a  permanent  tribunal  to  adjudicate 
them;  the  reduction  and  prohibition  of  increasing 
armaments,  and  such  other  principles  that  are  of  uni- 
versal application,  might  profitably  be  the  subjects  of 
a  League  of  Nations.  The  Old  World  has  many 
complicated  questions,  concerning  which  we  in  America 
have  no  special  interest,  and  which  I  think  ought  to 
be  settled  by  the  nations  concerned  in  a  spirit  of  justice 


AMERICA  DURING  AND  AFTER  THE^WAR  5 

and  self  determination,  taking  into  account  their  racial 
affinities  and  traditions. 

The  republics  of  the  New  World  have  no  secular 
antagonisms  or  wrongs  to  redress.  Having  acquired 
independence  by  their  own  efforts  after  the  long  and 
heroic  fight  for  emancipation,  they  inherited  the 
sacred  trust  to  preserve  freedom  and  keep  inviolate 
the  legacy  of  peace,  justice  and  liberty. 

The  Pan  American  Union  is  already  a  League  of 
American  republics  formed  to  develop  and  encourage 
their  progress  and  friendship.  I  think  that  its  sphere 
of  action  ought  to  be  extended  to  the  settlement  of 
pending  questions  by  peaceful  methods. 

The  only  differences  that  threatened  and  still 
threaten  the  peace  of  the  continent  are  the  boundary 
disputes,  but  most  of  them  have  been  already  ad- 
justed. Interpreting  the  sentiments  of  the  American 
republics,  Argentine  and  Chile  erected  'way  up  on 
the  summit  of  the  Andes  the  famous  statue  of  Christ 
with  the  vow  of  perpetual  peace. 

If  there  is  one  obstacle  to  the  settlement  of  the 
still  pending  boundary  questions,  it  is  the  wrong  con- 
ception of  national  honor.  Some  of  the  most  stub- 
bornly contested  of  them  are  about  out-of-the-way 
territories  of  no  actual  value.  With  the  better  train- 
ing of  public  opinion,  and  a  more  sensible  way  of 
looking  into  those  questions,  their  settlement  would 
become  very  easy.  I  am  confident  that  with  the 
development  of  means  of  communication  and  travel, 
easier  intercourse,  the  growth  of  commercial  relations 
and  the  natural  progress  of  enlightened  public  opinion, 
the  day  will  come  when  the  American  republics,  in- 
stead of  quarreling  about  boundaries,  will  abolish  them 
and  form  one  great  confederation  based  on  the  ideals 
that  awaken  in  our  soul  the  love  of  liberty,  justice 


6  IGNACIO  CALDER6N 

and  peace,  and  of  whatever  is  generous,  beautiful  and 
divine. 

In  the  growth  and  development  of  the  various  re- 
publics there  has  been  a  marked  difference  in  their 
progress,  increase  of  population  and  wealth;  but  that 
is  principally  due  to  special  circumstances,  such  as 
more  advantageous  location,  better  facilities  of  inter- 
course with  other  countries  and  the  influx  of  immigra- 
tion. Internal  disturbances,  fortunately  disappear- 
ing, have  in  no  small  degree  contributed  to  the  back- 
wardness of  some  of  the  republics.  Revolutions  and 
military  dictatorships  have  been  a  blight,  but  under 
the  American  league  of  nations  they  could  be  sup- 
pressed by  agreements  that,  without  infringing  on 
the  sovereignity  of  any  country  would  discourage  all 
irregular  governments,  and  more  especially  the  un- 
fortunate practice  of  presidential  reelection  by  fraud 
and  imposition. 

While  in  the  Old  World  the  so-called  first-class  powers 
have  been  a  permanent  menace  to  the  safety  of  the 
small  countries,  and  the  doctrine  of  equilibrium  and 
spheres  of  influence  has  subordinated  the  rights  and 
national  aspirations  of  the  minor  countries  to  the  con- 
venience of  the  stronger  powers,  the  republics  of 
America  know  not  such  dependency.  The  democratic 
doctrine  of  the  equality  of  men  and  nations  is  the 
cornerstone  of  their  existence. 

It  is  a  great  credit  to  the  United  States  that  Presi- 
dent Wilson,  faithfully  interpreting  the  sentiments  of 
the  Nation,  has  again  and  again  affirmed  the  respect 
for  the  sovereignty  of  every  republic,  no  matter  how 
weak  or  small. 

These  declarations  of  the  most  powerful  and  rich 
democracy  that  ever  existed  is  the  solid  garantee  of 
peace  in  the  New  World.  All  attempts  to  introduce  in 


AMERICA  DURING  AND  AFTER  THE  WAR  7 

America  the  system  of  forming  groups  of  republics 
assuming  the  right  to  establish  policies  suitable  to 
their  convenience,  is  an  attempt  to  pervert  the  basic 
right  of  absolute  self  control  recognized  to  each  and 
every  one  of  the  American  nations. 

If  there  is  one  sentiment  that  is  most  universally 
and  more  deeply  cherished  in  the  republics  of  America, 
it  is  the  love  of  their  independence  and  sovereignty. 

The  unfortunate  designation  by  some  writers  of  the 
so-called  A.  B.  C.  powers,  in  the  sense  of  superiority, 
is  something  that  we  absolutely  repudiate  as  an  at- 
tempt to  create  distinctions,  apt  to  foment  a  policy 
of  discord  and  rivalry.  We  are  convinced  that  the 
whole  alphabet  of  the  republics  form  a  union  of  equally 
sovereign  and  democratic  nations,  whose  ideals  are 
mutual  respect,  right  and  liberty. 

When  the  greatest  free  democracy  of  the  world  has 
so  brightly  illuminated  the  splendor  of  the  stars  of  its 
unbeaten  flag  fighting  for  the  freedom  of  the  oppressed 
nations,  there  is  no  room  in  our  America  for  other 
principles  than  those  that  President  Wilson  has  pro- 
claimed as  the  creed  of  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  whole  world  is  eagerly  making  its  own. 

The  war  with  all  its  horrors  has  been  like  a  destruc- 
tive cyclone,  that,  while  leaving  in  its  path  desolation 
and  ruins,  purifies  the  air,  awakening  dormant  energies 
that  call  for  a  common  effort  and  mutual  help. 

I  will  state  in  conclusion  that  it  is  my  belief  that 
the  true  brotherhood  of  man  will  come  only  when  we 
instill  in  every  child's  mind,  in  the  heart  and  soul  of 
every  man  and  woman,  the  conviction  that  love, 
liberty  and  justice  are  the  highest  ideals  that  make 
life  worth  living  and  represent  the  true  conception  of 
our  mission  on  earth.  It  will  then  be  easy  to  form  a 
real  league  and  a  brotherhood  of  man  and  nations, 


8  IGNACIO  CALDER6N 

all  united  in  a  league  of  hearts  in  the  hope  of  seeing 
the  dawn  of  that  era  of  peace  and  good  will,  of  freedom 
and  justice,  for  which  many  millions  of  brave  soldiers 
have  given  their  lives  so  gloriously. 
Let  us  hope,  not  in  vain. 

December  28,  1918. 


